Gearing up -- new releases and gifts

Getting It On For Fall - The weather is getting chillier where I am, bringing back memories of of other autumns, halloween parties and fall festivals. Luckily Paco over at 22769 has me covered, and he does it so very well. First up is a gift for the Boo for 2 hunt. He's mixing it up a bit with these cords and a deep green silk shirt. The cords are relaxed and timeless, 50's style cuffs that go really well with my favorite Boots from Gabriel. Open collar shirt and a classic look all around. Free is good, but when 22769 gives you a gift, you know it's going to be something you want to wear, not just something you want to find so you can get to the next stop on the hunt.



Not free but amazingly reasonable at $190L is this very, very cool lightweight green parka with a fur-edged hood. The fur itself is very very fun and well done, and the jacket managed to stay with me when I moved -- something not all prim coats do. It comes with basic black jeans, rolled 50's style cuffs and and a really nice loose necked turtleneck in a brown//black color. The ribbed knit on the turtleneck is also well done. I think I want Paco to texture my RL clothes, thanks. This item was designed for the Gallery Gift Shop, so take a look around while there.

Real Men Wear Lavender - I'm not shy in my admiration for Lexi Vargas's work for Brocade Tiger. Here's a designer who started out wanting to make clothes he would wear for fun, who has only gotten better as he goes on. It's possible the fact that he's both a RL artist and an SL model contributes to this - if you've ever wandered through Rfyre, you've seen him on the posters there although chameleon that he is you may not recognize him at first.

All that aside, Lexi goes for the elegant and sometimes the outrageous -- if you ever wanted to wear Steampunk Glam, Lexi's the guy to go see. His latest release is Double Take, which is a colorfully fun take on a traditional style -- Classic suit styling in Lavender Plaid. Sharp pointed vest and open necked tie make it casual fun, and the placard pleat at the waist gives it the kind of detail only an artist (or a clothes horse like me) could love. It rings in at $250L and if you want to make a statement at a bash this autumn, slip this on and try not to look too smug. Now, if lavender isn't your thing -- feel free to view his less flamboyant other suits in a similar style.

Where Art Meet Function - artMEfashion is new to me but I have to say I was impressed right off the bat. The offering was this truly excellent and detailed Steampunk Duster in black. At $400L it's something you want to make sure you are going to get some wear out of -- but the details on this long coat are really worth looking at. The coat is self moves really well, has that worn leather look that's hard to translate in SL, has buckles enough for any Steampunk adventurer and the loose flexi details at the shoulder, collar and skirt are a whole lot of fun. Their catalog currently seems to be geared more toward the gals, but I only had a few minutes to look around and plan to go back. Demand creates opportunity, so if you are looking for some truly incredible Steampunk Gear, then by all mean encourage designer Moonstone Eiren into putting her remarkable talents toward more guy gear. All of us will thank you.

Running Through January

I'm not sure I could have kept up with all the hunts even if I didn't have a day job.

That said, I want to mention Raven Pennyfeather's RP sales at Rfyre. For the last few weeks she's been offering outfits geared toward the Role-Playing set at some significant discounts. Some of them are older designs or revamped versions of them.

Today you can get her stunning Tessen (right) for $199L, including the boots and battle fans pictured. She also has the deep purple version of her chained leathers on sale for $69L for Humpday Happiness, but it's only today so don't expect them to be there after midnight.

One of the more interesting hunts has been The Next Big Thing hunt, (January 15th-February 12th) just for sheer imagination. Much of it is non-clothing and in clothing the men's pickings are fairly slim but it's still very fun and always interesting to see what ideas are crowding the brains of some of our favorite designers. In the case of 22769 (left), they went a little retro -- but I have no complaints because I think these are some of the best looking jeans I've seen in awhile. Stonewashed canvas denim, v-neck boater and a paisley over-shirt (not shown).

Southpaw took a step off the beaten path for her Next Big Thing offering (unless we're having a revival of Last of the Mohicans no one warned me about with a set of silks and male jewelry that's actually pretty well suited to her delight in all things elvish. Paired here with a striking De La Soul skin (in multiple shades), and boots from Tribal Soul (part of the Gorean Grid Wide hunt - Battle of the Sexes which was over the 22nd, but I'm still seeing some of the pink, blue, and green symbols in the shops), its just the thing to appeal to your primal soul.

If you are too overwhelmed or busy to hunt, I'd suggest taking a quick pop over to the Nomine sim, and see if you can't score something awesome easily by taking a chance for one of Munchflower Zaius' multiple offerings in her Gatcha. $20L could nab you a very cool Tribal hoodie, or other articles. The hair I mixed with this outfit is from Sonic Death Monkey - Onymphic - from the Inferno Hunt, (Feb 6-26th).




The last is not free (although the boots are an amazing bargain and as referred to up-post, you can get at least one set of Rfyre's chained leathers at an amazing price.) Lexi Vargas of Brocade Tiger released a whole line of new things to his shop last fall, including a set called simply "Gentleman" which is a full sleeved blouse and cravat, waistcoat and tight fitting riding pants in a complimentary subdued moss color (not shown).

Here I paired them with Raven's chained leathers in brown which I got for a discounted price when she released them. The riding boots are by Arundel Design and cost (as do all of Arundel's, boots, hats and full fledged Victorian outfits) a mere $50L. I actually first found these boots when I first rezzed in SL and loved them then. She's added some others and for historical RP they are awesome, being scriptless. (You can edit them the old fashioned way.) She has several shops around the grid, although I found these at her shop in Caledon Oxford Village.

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22769 Casual Couture
Arundel Designs
Brocade Tiger
De La Soul
House of Rfyre
Nomine
Sonic Death Monkey
Southpaw
Tribal Soul

Skins: Top to Bottom: Den Dou Ichiro, De La Soul - Dailan Violet Strip, Redgrave - Emil, Redgrave - King
Hair: MADesigns, Zeus, Shag, Sonic Death Monkey

Blatant Indulgent Vanity

Not much free here today, but maybe a couple of designers you might be willing to give some of your hard earned lindens too.

I've blogged before about the detail in the clothes from designer hiwinyu Fazuku of ::[ Mr.Poet]:: . The latest release of workshirts is no exception.

The look is layered and so are the sculpted necklines and cuffs, one on top of the other for the kind of look that makes the fabric look like you can reach out and touch it.

I am completely bowled over by the skill and artistry of hiwinyu's work. And given the level of detail, the cost is scarily reasonable.

::[ Mr.Poet ]::Work shirt Denim - $200L

Three shots here, just so you can see the details -- and even when you move (and I have a pretty constant movement AO) this shirt and jacket set holds together. Amazing.

Worn with this shirt are ripped jeans from Kobalt. Now jeans are generally not all that exciting. Let's face it, there's only so many pairs of jeans one avatar can wear in second life and if you are like me, you tend to find a pair and a designer you like and stick with them until you find another pair and another designer you like and so on. Well, I may have found that magic switch off.

I have to give a hat tip to Aida and M4ri1yn over at S.Luxury; who in addition to being one of SL's hottest couple, also have an amazing eye and taste for really good, new designers. Their latest fashion photo essay featured some of the works at Kobalt and I had to go check it out and was impressed with what I found.

$250L is about the top of what I will pay for a pair of jeans unless they come with multiple wear options. Kobalt managed to do that and gives you an unexpected but hot extra. Most of the jean I looked at came with two wear options, but the second wear is a blatantly sexy look, for the the hard core cruiser (and not a bad choice for an erotic dancer,) or for those nights when you want to give your partner an extra thrill.

To the left I have on Kobalt dirty tank top Moonlight ($110L), and Kobalt jean "2 styles- moonlight" ($250L). The basic style comes with cuffed pants and a well fitted prim bulge, but dig into the box a bit and you'll find and open version, complete with a well designed package for show and tell, and a hud to assist in matching your bonus package to your favorite skin. The look is sexy-hot, even if only for show (for more interactive genitals you will need to look elsewhere.)

To the right you'll get a hint of what kind of options you have with Kobalt's suki speedo blue ($200L) -the reveal here is a little less blatant but you get the idea. The speedo, like the jeans comes with 2 wear options -- in case you find yourself in more polite and less frisky company.

In case you need a little warm up before you strip down to the dirty and playful, you might want to stop by Brocade Tiger's new location and see what Lexi Vargas has been up to.

Lexi has been realigning his work to match his new logo "a style for every man," and you can find a wide array of options from street wear to the glam look of his newest offering, Dark Luster, in multiple color options. Luster is a neuvo-goth-glam look with a full coat, nice drape and movement to the coat skirt and adjustable chest chains. Clubbing or just dressing to impress and you can't go very wrong here, and he's currently running a sale. At $400L, Dark Luster is a pretty sweet deal.

He's also been working on some new lines so keep your eye on his Brocade Tiger blog.

Rounding out my latest indulgences is a gift from one of my favorite designers in SL, The Black Canary. Morrigan continues to impress and push his creativity. This fur trimmed cloak was a gift to his subscribo members and it's yet another example of what he's capable of. This comes with a hood option (not shown) and is unisex. It's a full double cloak, that moves amazingly well, the perfect outerwear for the cold night creeping up on us. Paired here with the pants from his Worthy Pearl set ($350L), it only reminds me I need to stop by his store and see what of his I don't yet have in my inventory.

And lest you think I've completely given up on free, I haven't, although most of what I am wearing is no longer free (That will teach you to miss those hunts, now won't it?) the skin is from LaVie, the Echo promo release with dragon tattoo that Pompeja offered before the full line release, and the Feather Necklace is from the MHOH4 hunt from Zenith. The hair is Army Crop from MADesigns (not free but not scary expensive either ), and the *Gemma* earrings are from Rozoregalia, from prior hunts.

Unintentional Hiatus - Classic, Couture, Casual

I didn't actually mean to be so long between updates. RL required some attention for a bit, however, here we are again with new stuff for you to look at.

If you are not regularly checking out the Midnight Mania boards at Knights Innovation, you are missing out. The content offering changes daily, the boards rarely fail to offer up their goodies and when they do, what you get are quality, highly detailed outfits suitable for your favorite Fantasy, Medieval or Post Apocalyptic adventures. Knights Innovation really do quality work, often offering full outfits down to the boots, nice side weapons (unscripted) a with multiple wear options: i.e.m the outfit shown here, Dark Warrior 2 Pack, has three kilt options - two long and one short, and multiple shirt options including the muscle style shown here.

Brocade Tiger (left) has changed locations and as an opening gift, Lexi Vargas is offering this tiger stripe version of his Black Snake outfit; laced up pants, cropped open top and sculpted collar; fashion and fun for free.

Lexi offers a wide range of men's and lady's wear that is fantastical, fun and reasonably priced. He specializes in rich textures, patterns, brocades and little extra flourishes.

Next to Lexi's shop on the celebration sim is VH Industry, (right) where you can pick up this grey logo'd pull for $1L. I matched it up with the group gift from Robbish, wader denim shorts. Denim chucks are from Akeyo (color change, resize, not free but awesome).

Fashion Fair

The 2010 Fashion Fair opened yesterday and runs through the end of the month. While the show itself has a lot of designers to offer, it was a bit disappointing to find so few offerings for men among even recognizable designers. There's not much offered in the way of free or promotional items, or even discounted ones. Sponsored by Simode, and boasting international designers, it looks as though they'll have a full schedule of events throughout the month.

Maverick Designs has a presence there with both their shapes and clothes, and they have a offering from Flavor Designs for hair for $1L just inside the door, but I wasn't actually looking to change my shape, so after a look around, I moved on and found La Rosa, which did have some bargains -- nothing extraordinary but most of their outfits include shirts, pants and shoes. The shirt in the menswear 002 I picked up, only has a jacket layer which, given the open design of the shirt, works okay for me -- I can toss a tank under it to change up the look and at $99L for the outfit including the shoes, I was okay with that (and the odd placement of the buttons - which I only noticed when I was working with the photo.)

PixelFashion had a couple of things I liked, including their jeans, but I passed on those for the Khaki & Blue shirt at $190L, because I'm a sucker for plaids and this was a nice one -- there were other colors available, subtle rather than bold, old faded plaid cotton as opposed to the thicker look of a flannel. The downside is the cuffs are no mod. I also really liked this Knotched Jacket at $230L in black. Since the coat is unwearable (there is no other version of it, unlike the waist plaid shirts SF Design offers), it's pretty much an accessory rather than an article of clothing. There is a demo in the display. If you like the look and are considering it, do try the demo first.

Brocade Tiger introduced a new crop look into his line; Black Snakeskin pants with a lace-up leg, sheer snakeskin long sleeved shirt with a really subtle sheen and pattern, and a fringed bolero jacket in the same black snakeskin. The Fringe comes sized for a back less broad than mine but it lined itself up perfectly on my chest so actually making the minor adjustment to size it was a snap, and no resize script to add lag. This is pretty obviously club wear but pull the bolero off or wear it alone and as with most of Lexi's pieces you've actually got several new elements to add to your wardrobe rather than a single outfit. At $300L, it's pretty mid range for something you could conceivably wear 6 or more ways.

The last outfit here isn't at the fair but I tripped over it looking at something else, and since I'm currently RPing in a urban sim, it was a little too much to pass up at $199L. From DrD, [Death row Designs] is this Dirty Deeds outfit -- pants, coat and two versions of a bloodied tank in white and beige. Add one of your own tanks (without blood) and you've got something very cool, or, put the bloodied tank back on and head out to your favorite RP sim to enact virtual mayhem on your friendly Co-second lifers.

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Hair:

#1 Flavor Design Eric Hair Coffee (in the Maverick Designs showroom at Fashion Fair. $1L)

#2 & 4 ZEUS YH-01 5color Black (not free)

#3 Rigel Mesh black - from the Hunting 9 hunt.

Relay For Life Clothing Fair 2010

I, admittedly, did not hit Clothing Fair looking for freebies; they are there -- check Brocade Tiger on CF New Dehli, Sartoria on CF Milan, Peeps at CF Rio deJaneiro for starters. I took a virtual pocket for money and an eye toward spending it all on a good cause, because that's what Clothing Fair is really about, raising money for the American Cancer Society- Relay for Life and it's International affiliates, and raising awareness about how much cancer in all it's forms, lethal and non-lethal affects pretty much everyone at one time or another.

My own RL family feels like it's seen a disproportionate amount of it; my mother died from breast cancer, my aunt (my mother's sister), my own sister, a male first cousin and myself have all been treated for breast cancer, and another male cousin -- close to me in age -- also died from cancer a little over a year ago. So, guys, if you think prostate cancer is the only biggee you have to worry about due to all the television and pharma ads covering it and treatments for it -- think again.





Stop by CF Paris where Rfyre has a display and read Raven's note about her father, who is also fighting it. Breast cancer in men is on the rise and it's treatable for the most part but it entirely depends on early detection for the amazing survival rate they are starting to see.

I'll end my PSA here, but when you visit Clothing Fair (and you should!) remember why it's there and help out if you can - $5L or $5000L, you don't have to buy something to donate and you won't find a better cause to toss it at. The impact of the RFL effort in-world isn't insignificant.

If you are inclined, here are some examples of what you can get from the actual donation vendors in various shops, other creators are donating a portion of all sales to the effort so, really, you can get some great clothes and give to a good cause all at the same time.














What I found in the RFL kiosks:

Top Left: Brocade Tiger Sugar Babe suit $250L. Not new but still period classy and fun.

Center Right: Rfyre Leon Men's Tux Check Black $500L - elegant wear at a seriously nice price.

Left: The Black Canary's aptly named "Promise" for men at $400L, designed especially for Clothing Fair.

Peeps Fashion (CF Milan) had both a free gifts (above left: Peeps casual v-neck sweater brown ) and a special $100L sale on everything including fatpacks (Below Left: Peeps casual turtleneck fatpack with jeans - this is burgundy,) portions of which would also be going to RFL. Marcy Wilson offered her usual reasonably priced ($200L for The Rock in Tan, above) men's fashion in her vendors, cause she is awesome like that.



Sartoria (upper right) has been offering men tastes of their specialized suits since I first rezzed and their Positano suit in white is no exception. It's a solid piece of business casual wear, and a good chance to see what the designer can do.

The link above brings you to the central plaza of the 9-sim extravaganza that is clothing fair. The music a is usually good, there are special events going on constantly -- remember to prim down, remove any scripts you don't need (which is most of them), and be prepared for some lag unless you go seriously early in the morning. The sims are rarely empty but the kind of middling times between international time zones -- say 3 a.m to 6 a.m. US East coast time (3 hours earlier than SL time) seem to have the least amount of activity.

You're gonna have to do some walking to find the men's stuff -- but that's what this is about. Even if you aren't on a Relay for Life Team -- that's what this benefit is about, taking the extra step, for those people who can't do it for themselves.